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A     STUDY     OF 
BROWNING'S  SAUL 


A     STUDY      OF 
BROWNING'S    SAUL 


CORA  MARTIN  MacDONALD,   A,  M. 

(  I 

FORMERLY   PROFESSOR  OF   ENGLISH  LITERATURE  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  WYOMING,   LECTURER  ON  ENGLISH  LITERATURB 


CHICAGO          NEW  YORK  TORONTO 

FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 

LONDON  AND  BDINBURGH 
HCHIt 


fe^ 


Copyright,  1902,  by 

FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 

November 


Ef)t  ILakfBi'lif  ^rfs« 

K.  DONNELLEY   &  SONS  COMPANY 
CHICAGO 


*'See  the  Christ  Standi"' 


SAUL 


I 

Said  Abner,  "At  last  thou  art  come!     Ere  I  tell, 

ere  thou  speak, 
Kiss  my  cheek,  wish  me  well!"     Then  I  wished  it, 

and  did  kiss  his  cheek. 
And  he,   "Since  the  King,   O  my  friend,   for  thy 

countenance  sent. 
Neither  drunken  nor  eaten  have  we;  nor  until  from 

his  tent 
Thou  return  with   the   joyful  assurance  the   King 

liveth  yet, 
Shall  our  lip  with  the  honey  be  bright,   with  the 

water  be  wet. 
For  out  of  the  black  mid-tent's  silence,  a  space  of 

three  days, 
Not  a  sound  hath  escaped  to  thy  servants,  of  prayer 

nor  of  praise, 
To  betoken  that  Saul  and  the  Spirit  have  ended  their 

strife. 
And  that,  faint  in  his  triumph,  the  monarch  sinks 

back  upon  life. 

II 
"Yet  now  my  heart  leaps,  O  beloved!    God's  child, 

with  his  dew 
On  thy  gracious  gold  hair,  and  those  lilies  still  living 

and  blue 


lo  Saul 

Just  broken  to  twine  round  thy  harp-strings,  as  if  no 

wild  heat 
Were  now  raging  to  torture  the  desert!" 

Ill 

Then  I,  as  was  meet, 
Knelt  down  to  the  God  of  my  fathers,  and  rose  on 

my  feet, 
And  ran  o'er  the  sand  burnt  to  powder.     The  tent 

was  unlooped; 
I  pulled  up  the  spear  that  obstructed,  and  under  I 

stooped; 
Hands  and  knees  on  the  slippery  grass-patch,   all 

withered  and  gone, 
That  extends  to  the  second  enclosure,  I  groped  my 

way  on 
Till  I  felt  where  the  foldskirts  fly  open.     Then  once 

more  I  prayed. 
And  opened  the  foldskirts  and  entered,  and  was  not 

afraid 
But  spoke,  "Here  is  David,  thy  servant!"     And  no 

voice  replied. 
At  the  first  I  saw  naught  but  the  blackness;  but  soon 

I  descried 
A  something  more  black  than  the  blackness — the 

vast,  the  upright 
Main  prop  which  sustains  the  pavilion:    and  slow 

into  sight 


Saul  I I 

Grew  a  figure  against  it,  gigantic  and  blackest  of  all. 
Then   a  sunbeam,  that   burst   thro'   the  tent-roof, 
«howed  Saul. 

IV 

He  stood  as  erect   as  that   tent-prop,   both  arms 

stretched  out  wide 
On  the  great  cross-support  in  the  center,  that  goes 

to  each  side; 
He  relaxed  not  a  muscle,  but  hung  there  as,  caught 

in  his  pangs 
And  waiting  his  change,  the  king-serpent  all  heavily 

hangs. 
Far  away  from  his  kind,  in  the  pine,  till  deliverance 

come 
With  the  springtime — so  agonized  Saul,  drear  and 

stark,  blind  and  dumb. 

V 

Then  I  tuned  my  harp, — took  off  the  lilies  we  twine 

round  its  chords 
Lest  they  snap  'neath  the  stress  of  the  noon-tide — 

those  sunbeams  like  swords! 
And  I  first  played  the  tune  all  our  sheep  know,  as, 

one  after  one. 
So  docile  they  come  to  the  pen-door  till  folding  be 

done. 


I 1  Saul 

They  are  white  and  untorn  by  the  bushes,  for  lo, 

they  have  fed 
Where  the  long  grasses  stifle  the  water  within  the 

stream's  bed; 
And  now  one  after  one  seeks  its  lodging,  as  star 

follows  star 
Into  eve  and  the  blue  far  above  us, — so  blue  and  so 

far! 

VI 

— Then  the  tune  for  which  quails  on  the  comland 

will  each  leave  his  mate 
To  fly  after  the  player;  then,  what  makes  the  crick- 
ets elate 
Till  for  boldness  they  fight  one  another;  and  then, 

what  has  weight 
To  set  the  quick  jerboa  a-musing  outside  his  sand 

house — 
There  are  none  such  as  he  for  a  wonder,  half  bird 

and  half  mouse! 
God  made  all  the  creatures  and  gave  them  our  love 

and  our  fear, 
To  give   sign,   we  and  they  are  his  children,  one 

family  here. 

VII 

Then  I  played  the  help-tune  of  our  reapers,  their 

wine-song,  when  hand 
Grasps  at  hand,  eye  lights  eye  in  good  friendship, 

and  great  hearts  expand 


Saul  13 

And  grow  one  in  the  sense  of  this  world's  Hfe. — 

And  then,  the  last  song 
When  the  dead  man  is  praised  on  his  journey — 

"Bear,  bear  him  along 
With  his  few  faults  shut  up  like  dead  flowerets !  Are 

balm-seeds  not  here 
To  console  us?     The  land  has  none  left  such  as  he 

on  the  bier. 
Oh,  would  we  might  keep  thee,  my  brother!" — And 

then,  the  glad  chaunt 
Of  the  marriage, — first  go  the  young  maidens,  next, 

she  whom  we  vaunt 
As  the  beauty,    the   pride  of   our  dweUing. — And 

then,  the  great  march 
Wherein  man  runs  to  man  to  assist  him  and  buttress 

an  arch 
Naught   can    break;    who    shall    harm   them,    our 

friends? — Then,  the  chorus  intoned 
As    the    Levites    go    up    to    the    altar    in   glory 

enthroned. 
But  I  stopped  here:  for  here  in  the  darkness  Saul 

groaned. 

VIII 

And  I  paused,  held  my  breath  in  such  silence,  and 

listened  apart; 
And  the  tent  shook,  for  mighty  Saul  shuddered:  and 

sparkles  'gan  dart 


14  Saul 

From  the  jewels  that  woke  in  his  turban,  at  once 

with  a  start, 
All  its  lordly  male-sapphires,  and  rubies  courageous 

at  heart. 
So  the  head:  but  the  body  still  moved  not,  still  hung 

there  erect. 
And  I  bent  once  again  to  my  playing,  pursued  it 

unchecked. 
As  I  sang, — 

IX 

"Oh,  our  manhood's  prime  vigor !  No  spirit  feels  waste. 

Not  a  muscle  is  stopped  in  its  playing,  nor  sinew  un- 
braced. 

Oh,  the  wild  joys  of  living!  the  leaping  from  rock 
up  to  rock. 

The  strong  rending  of  boughs  from  the  fir-tree,  the 
cool  silver  shock 

Of  the  plunge  in  a  pool's  living  water,  the  hunt  of 
the  bear. 

And  the  sultriness  showing  the  lion  is  couched  in  his 
lair. 

And  the  meal,  the  rich  dates  yellowed  over  v/ith  gold 
dust  divine, 

And  the  locust-flesh  steeped  in  the  pitcher,  the  full 
draught  of  wine. 

And  the  sleep  in  the  dried  river-channel  where  bul- 
rushes tell 

That  the  water  was  wont  to  go  warbling  so  softly 
and  well. 


Saul  1 5 

How  good  is  man's  life,  the  mere  living!  how  fit  to 

employ 
All  the  heart  and  the  soul  and  the  senses  forever  in  joy' 
Hast  thou  loved  the  white  locks  of  thy  father,  whose 

sword  thou  didst  guard 
When  he  trusted  thee   forth  with  the   armies,  for 

glorious  reward? 
Didst  thou  see  the  thin  hands  of  thy  mother,  held 

up  as  men  sung 
The  low  song  of  the  nearly  departed,  and  hear  her 

faint  tongue 
Joining  in  while  it  could  to  the  witness,  'Let  one 

more  attest, 
I  have  lived,  seen  God's  hand  thro'  a  lifetime,  and 

all  was  for  best'? 
Then  they  sung  thro'  their  tears  in  strong  triumph, 

not  much,  but  the  rest. 
And    thy  brothers,   the  help  and  the  contest,   the 

working  whence  grew 
Such  result    as,   from  seething  grape-bundles,   the 

spirit  strained  true: 
And  the  friends  of  thy  boyhood — that  boyhood  of 

wonder  and  hope, 
Present  promise  and  wealth  of  the  future  beyond  the 

eye's  scope, — 
Till  lo,  thou  art  grown  to  a  monarch;  a  people  is 

thine; 
And  all  gifts,  which  the  world  offers  singly,  on  one 

head  combine! 


I 6  Saul 

On  one  head,  all  the  beauty  and  strength,  love  and 

rage  (like  the  throe 
That,  a-work  in  the  rock,  helps  its  labor  and  lets  the 

gold  go). 
High  ambition  and  deeds  which  surpass  it,  fame 

crowning  them, — all 
Brought  to  blaze  on  the  head  of  one  creature — King 

Saul!" 

X 

And  lo,  with  that  leap  of  my  spirit, — heart,  hand, 

harp,  and  voice. 
Each  lifting  Saul's  name  out  of  sorrow,  each  bidding 

rejoice 
Saul's  fame  in  the  light  it  was  made  for — as  when, 

dare  I  say. 
The   Lord's   army,   in  rapture  of  service,   strains 

through  its  array, 
And  upsoareth  the  cherubim-chariot — "Saul!"  cried 

I,  and  stopped. 
And  waited  the  thing  that  should    follow.     Then 

Saul,  who  hung  propped 
By  the  tent's  cross-support  in  the  center,  was  struck 

by  his  name. 
Have  ye  seen  when  Spring's  arrowy  summons  goes 

right  to  the  aim. 
And  some  mountain,  the  last  to  withstand  her,  that 

held  (he  alone. 
While  the  vale  laughed  in  freedom  and  flowers)  on 

a  broad  bust  of  stone 


Saul  1 7 

A  year's   snow  bound  about   for  a  breastplate, — 

leaves  grasp  of  the  sheet? 
Fold  on  fold  all  at  once  it  crowds  thunderously  down 

to  his  feet, 
And  there  fronts  you,  stark,  black,  but  alive  yet, 

your  mountain  of  old. 
With  his  rents,  the  successive  bequeathings  of  ages 

untold — 
Yea,  each  harm  got  in  fighting  your  battles,  each 

furrow  and  scar 
Of  his  head  thrust  'twixt  you  and  the  tempest — all 

hail,  there  they  are! 
— Now  again  to   be  softened  with  verdure,   again 

hold  the  nest 
Of  the  dove,  tempt  the  goat  and  its  young  to  the 

green  on  his  crest 
For  their  food  in  the  ardors  of  summer.     One  long 

shudder  thrilled 
All  the  tent  till  the  very  air  tingled,  then  sank  and 

was  stilled 
At  the  King's  self  left  standing  before  me,  released 

and  aware. 
What  was  gone,  what  remained.?     All  to  traverse, 

'twixt  hope  and  despair; 
Death    was    past,    life  not    come:     so   he   waited. 

Awhile  his  right  hand 
Held  the   brow,   helped    the   eyes   left   too  vacant 

forthwith  to  remand 


1 8  Saul 

To  their  place  what  new  objects  should  enter:   'twas 

Saul  as  before. 
I  looked  up  and  dared  gaze  at  those  eyes,  nor  was 

hurt  any  more 
Than  by  slow  pallid  sunsets  in  autumn,  ye  watch 

from  the  shore. 
At  their  sad  level  gaze  o'er  the  ocean — a  sun's  slow 

decline 
Over  hills  which,  resolved  in  stern  silence,  o'erlap 

and  entwine 
Base  with  base  to  knit  strength  more  intensely:  so, 

arm  folded  arm 
O'er  the  chest  whose  slow  heavings  subsided. 

XI 

What  spell  or  what  charm, 
(For,  awhile  there  was  trouble  within  me)  what  next 

should  I  urge 
To  sustain  him  where  song  had  restored  him? — Song 

filled  to  the  verge 
His  cup  with  the  wine  of  this  life,  pressing  all  that 

it  yields 
Of   mere   fruitage,  the   strength   and   the   beauty: 

beyond,  on  what  fields. 
Glean  a  vintage  more  potent  and  perfect  to  brighten 

the  eye 
And  bring  blood  to  the  lip,  and  commend  them  the 

cup  they  put  by? 


Saul  I 9 

He  saith,  "It  is  good;"  still  he  drinks  not:  he  lets 

me  praise  life, 
Gives  assent,  yet  would  die  for  his  own  part. 

XII 

Then  fancies  grew  rife 
Which  had  come  long  ago  on  the  pasture,   when 

round  me  the  sheep 
Fed  in  silence — above,  the  one  eagle  wheeled  slow 

as  in  sleep; 
And  I  lay  in  my  hollow  and  mused  on  the  world  that 

might  lie 
'Neath  his  ken,  though  I  saw  but  the  strip  'twixt 

the  hill  and  the  sky: 
And  I  laughed — "Since  my  days  are  ordained  to  be 

passed  with  my  flocks. 
Let  me  people  at  least,  with  my  fancies,  the  plains 

and  the  rocks. 
Dream  the  life  I  am  never  to  mix  with,  and  image 

the  show 
Of  mankind  as  they  live  in  those  fashions  I  hardly 

shall  know! 
Schemes  of  life,  its  best  rules  and  right  uses,  the 

courage  that  gains, 
And  the  prudence  that  keeps  what  men  strive  for." 

And  now  these  old  trains 
Of  vague  thought  came  again;  I  grew  surer;  so, 

once  more  the  string 
Of  my  harp  made  response  to  my  spirit,  as  thus — 


20  Saul 


XIII 


"Yea,  my  King," 
I  began — "thou  dost  well  in  rejecting  mere  comforts 

that  spring 
From  the  mere  mortal  life  held  in  common  by  man 

and  by  brute: 
In  our  flesh  grows  the  branch  of  this  life,  in  our  soul 

it  bears  fruit. 
Thou  hast  marked  the  slow  rise  of  the  tree, — how  its 

stem  trembled  first 
Till  it  passed  the  kid's  lip,  the  stag's  antler;  then 

safely  outburst 
The  fan-branches  all  round;  and  thou  mindest  when 

these,  too,  in  turn 
Broke  a-bloom  and  the  palm-tree  seemed  perfect: 

yet  more  was  to  learn, 
E'en  the  good  that  comes  in  with  the  palm-fruit. 

Our  dates  shall  we  slight, 
When  their  juice  brings  a  cure  for  all  sorrow?  or 

care  for  the  plight 
Of  the   palm's  self  whose    slow  growth  produced 

them?     Not  so!  stem  and  branch 
Shall  decay,  nor  be  known  in  their  place,  while  the 

palm-wine  shall  staunch 
Every  wound  of  man's  spirit  in  winter.     I  pour  thee 

such  wine. 
Leave  the  flesh  to  the  fate  it  was  fit  for!  the  spirit 

be  thine! 


Saul  2 1 

By  the  spirit,  when  age  shall  o'ercome  thee,  thou 

still  shalt  enjoy 
More  indeed,  than  at  first  when  inconscious,  the  life 

of  a  boy. 
Crush  that  life,  and  behold  its  wine  running!     Each 

deed  thou  hast  done 
Dies,  revives,  goes  to  work  in  the  world;  until  e'en 

as  the  sun 
Looking  down  on  the   earth,   though  clouds  spoil 

him,  though  tempests  efface. 
Can  find  nothing  his  own  deed  produced  not,  must 

everywhere  trace 
The  results  of  his  past  summer-prime, — so,   each 

ray  of  thy  will. 
Every  flash  of  thy  passion  and  prowess,  long  over, 

shall  thrill 
Thy  whole  people,   the  countless,   with  ardor,  till 

they  too  give  forth 
A  like  cheer  to  their  sons,  who  in  turn,  fill  the  South 

and  the  North 
With    the    radiance    thy   deed    was    the    germ   of. 

Carouse  in  the  past! 
But  the  license  of  age  has  its  limit;  thou  diest  at 

last: 
As  the  lion  when  age  dims  his  eyeball,  the  rose  at 

her  height. 
So  with  man — so  his  power  and  his  beauty  forever 

take  flight. 


22  Saul 

No !     Again  a  long  draught  of  my  soul- wine !     Look 

forth  o'er  the  years! 
Thou  hast  done  now  with  eyes  for  the  actual ;  begin 

with  the  seer's! 
Is  Saul  dead?     In  the  depth  of  the  vale  make  his 

tomb — bid  arise 
A  gray  mountain  of  marble  heaped  four-square,  till, 

built  to  the  skies, 
Let  it  mark  where  the  great  First  King  slumbers: 

whose  fame  would  ye  know? 
Up  above  see  the  rock's  naked  face,  where  the  record 

shall  go 
In  great  characters  cut  by  the  scribe,— Such  was 

Saul,  so  he  did; 
With  the  sages  directing  the  work,  by  the  populace 

chid, — 
For   not  half,   they'll  affirm,   is   comprised   there! 

Which  fault  to  amend. 
In  the  grove  with  his  kind  grows  the  cedar,  whereon 

they  shall  spend 
(See,  in  tablets  'tis  level  before  them)  their  praise, 

and  record 
With  the  gold  of   the  graver,    Saul's   story, — the 

statesman's  great  word 
Side  by  side  with  the  poet's  sweet  comment.     The 

river's  a- wave 
With  smooth  paper-reeds  grazing  each  other  when 

prophet-winds  rave: 


Saul  23 

So  the  pen  gives  unborn  generations  their  due  and 

their  part 
In  thy  being!    Then,  first  of  the  mighty,  thank  God 

that  thou  art!" 

XIV 

And  behold  while  I  sang  ....  but  O  Thou  who 

didst  grant  me  that  day, 
And  before  it  not  seldom  hast  granted  thy  help  to 

essay, 
Carry  on  and  complete  an  adventure, — my  shield 

and  my  sword 
In  that  act  where  my  soul  was  thy  servant,  thy 

word  was  my  word, — 
Still  be  with  me,  who  then  at  the  summit  of  human 

endeavor 
And  scaling  the  highest  man's  thought  could,  gazed 

hopeless  as  ever 
On  the  new  stretch  of  heaven  above  me — till,  mighty 

to  save. 
Just  one  lift  of  thy  hand  cleared  that  distance — God's 

throne  from  man's  grave! 
Let  me  tell  out  my  tale  to  its  ending — my  voice  to 

my  heart 
Which  can  scarce  dare  believe  in  what  marvels  last 

night  I  took  part, 
As  this  morning  I  gather  the  fragments,  alone  with 

my  sheep, 
And  still  fear  lest  the  terrible  glory  evanish  like  sleep  I 


24  Saul 

For  I  wake  in  the  gray  dewy  covert,  while  Hebron 

upheaves 
The  dawn  struggling  with  night  on  his  shoulder,  and 

Kidron  retrieves 
Slow  the  damage  of  yesterday's  sunshine. 

XV 

I  say  then, — my  song 
While  I  sang  thus,  assuring  the  monarch,  and  ever 

more  strong 
Made  a  proffer  of  good  to  console  him — he  slowly 

resumed 
His  old  motions  and  habitudes  kingly.     The  right- 
hand  replumed 
His  black  locks  to  their  wonted  composure,  adjusted 

the  swathes 
Of  his  turban,   and  see — the  huge   sweat  that  his 

countenance  bathes, 
He  wipes  off  with  the  robe ;  and  he  girds  now  his 

loins  as  of  yore. 
And  feels  slow  for  the  armlets  of  price,  with  the 

clasp  set  before. 
He  is  Saul,  ye  remember  in  glory, — ere  error  had  bent 
The  broad  brow  from  the  daily  communion;   and 

still,  though  much  spent 
Be  the  hfe  and  the  bearing  that  front  you,  the  same, 

God  did  choose. 
To  receive  what  a  man  may  waste,  desecrate,  never 

quite  lose. 


Saul  2  5 

So  sank  he  along  by  the  tent-prop  till,  stayed  by  the 

pile 
Of  his  armor  and  war-cloak  and  garments,  he  leaned 

there  awhile, 
And  sat  out  my  singing, — one  arm  round  the  tent- 
prop,  to  raise 
His  bent  head,    and  the  other  hung  slack — till   I 

touched  on  the  praise 
I    foresaw  from   all   men  in  all  time,  to  the  man 

patient  there; 
And  thus  ended,   the  harp  falling  forward.     Then 

first  I  was  'ware 
That  he  sat,  as  I  say,  with  my  head  just  above  his 

vast  knees, 
Which  were  thrust  out  on  each  side  around  me,  like 

oak-roots  which  please 
To  encircle  a  lamb  when  it  slumbers.     I  looked  up 

to  know 
If  the  best  I  could  do  had  brought  solace :  he  spoke 

not,  but  slow 
Lifted  up  the  hand  slack  at  his  side,  till  he  laid  it 

with  care 
Soft  and  grave,  but  in  mild  settled  will,  on  my  brow: 

thro'  my  hair 
The  large  fingers  were  pushed,  and  he  bent  back  my 

head,  with  kind  power — 
All  my  face  back,  intent  to  peruse  it,  as  men  do  a 

flower. 


26  Saul 

Thus  held  he  me  there  with  his  great  eyes  that 
scrutinized  mine — 

And  oh,  all  my  heart  how  it  loved  him!  but  where 
was  the  sign? 

I  yearned — "Could  I  help  thee,  my  father,  invent- 
ing a  bliss, 

I  would  add,  to  that  life  of  the  past,  both  the  future 
and  this; 

I  would  give  thee  new  life  altogether,  as  good,  ages 
hence. 

As  this  moment, — had  love  but  the  warrant,  love's 
heart  to  dispense!" 

XVI 

Then  the  truth  came  upon  me.  No  harp  more — no 
song  more!  outbroke — 

XVII 

"I  have  gone  the  whole  round  of  creation:  I  saw 
and  I  spoke: 

I,  a  work  of  God's  hand  for  that  purpose,  received 
in  my  brain 

And  pronounced  on  the  rest  of  his  handwork — re- 
turned him  again 

His  creation's  approval  or  censure:  I  spoke  as  I 
saw: 

I  report,  as  a  man  may  of  God's  work — all's  love, 
yet  all's  law. 


Saul  27 

Now  I  lay  down  the  judgeship  he  lent  me.  Each 
faculty  tasked 

To  perceive  him,  has  gained  an  abyss,  where  a  dew- 
drop  was  asked. 

Have  I  knowledge?  confounded  it  shrivels  at  Wis- 
dom laid  bare. 

Have  I  forethought?  how  purblind,  how  blank,  to 
the  Infinite  Care! 

Do  I  task  any  faculty  highest,  to  image  success? 

I  but  open  my  eyes, — and  perfection,  no  more  and 
no  less. 

In  the  kind  I  imagined,  full-fronts  me,  and  God  is 
seen  God 

In  the  star,  in  the  stone,  in  the  flesh,  in  the  soul, 
and  the  clod. 

And  thus  looking  within  and  around  me,  I  ever 
renew 

(With  that  stoop  of  the  soul  which  in  bending 
upraises  it  too) 

The  submission  of  man's  nothing-perfect  to  God's 
all -complete. 

As  by  each  new  obeisance  in  spirit,  I  climb  to  his  feet. 

Yet  with  all  this  abounding  experience,  this  deity 
known, 

I  shall  dare  to  discover  some  province,  some  gift  of 
my  own. 

There's  a  faculty  pleasant  to  exercise,  hard  to  hood- 
wink, 

I  am  fain  to  keep  still  in  abeyance,  (I  laugh  as  I  think) 


2  8  Saul 

Lest,  insisting  to  claim  and  parade  in  it,  wot  ye,  I 

worst 
E'en  the  Giver  in  one  gift. — Behold,  I  could  love  if 

I  durst! 
But   I   sink  the  pretension  as  fearing  a  man  may 

o'ertake 
God's  own  speed  in  the  one  way  of  love:  I  abstain 

for  love's  sake. 
— What,  my  soul?    see  thus    far  and   no  farther? 

when  doors  great  and  small, 
Nine-and-ninety  flew  ope  at  our  touch,  should  the 

hundredth  appall? 
In  the  least  things  have  faith,  yet  distrust  in  the 

greatest  of  all? 
Do  I  find  love  so  full  in  my  nature,  God's  ultimate 

gift. 
That  I  doubt  his  own  love  can  compete  with  it? 

Here,  the  parts  shift? 
Here,  the  creature  surpass  the  Creator, — the  end, 

what  Began? 
Would  I  fain  in  my  impotent  yearning  do  all  for  this 

man. 
And  dare  doubt  he  alone  shall  not  help  him,  who  yet 

alone  can? 
Would  it  ever  have  entered  my  mind,  the  bare  will, 

much  less  power. 
To  bestow  on  this  Saul  what  I  sang  of,  the  marvel- 
ous dower 


Saul  29 

Of  the  life  he  was  gifted  and  filled  with?  to  make 

such  a  soul, 
Such  a  body,  and  then  such  an  earth  for  insphering 

the  whole? 
And  doth  it  not  enter  my  mind  (as  my  warm  tears 

attest) 
These  good  things  being  given,  to  go  on,  and  give 

one  more,  the  best? 
Ay,  to  save  and  redeem  and  restore  him,  maintain 

at  the  height 
This    perfection, — succeed  with    life's    day-spring, 

death's  minute  of  night? 
Interpose  at  the   difficult  minute,   snatch  Saul  the 

mistake, 
Saul  the  failure,  the  ruin  he  seems  now, — and  bid 

him  awake 
From  the  dream,  the  probation,  the  prelude,  to  find 

himself  set 
Clear  and  safe  in  new  light  and  new  life, — a  new 

harmony  yet 
To  be  run,  and  continued,  and  ended — who  knows? — 

or  endure! 
The  man  taught  enough,  by  life's  dream,  of  the  rest 

to  make  sure; 
By  the  pain-throb,  triumphantly  winning  intensified 

bliss, 
And  the   next  world's  reward  and  repose,  by  the 

struggles  in  this. 


30  Saul 


XVIII 

*'I  believe  it!   'Tis  thou,  God,  that  givest,  'tis  I  who 

receive : 
In  the  first  is  the  last,  in  thy  will  is  my  power  to  believe. 
All's  one  gift:    thou  canst  grant   it    moreover,  as 

prompt  to  my  prayer 
As  I  breathe  out  this  breath,  as  I  open  these  arms 

to  the  air. 
From  thy  will,  stream  the  worlds,  life  and  nature, 

thy  dread  Sabaoth: 
/will? — the  mere  atoms  despise  me!     Why  am  I 

not  loth 
To  look  that,  even  that  in  the  face,  too?    Why  is  it 

I  dare 
Think  but  lightly  of  such  impuissance?     What  stops 

my  despair? 
This: — 'tis  not  what  man  Does  which  exalts  him, 

but  what  man  Would  do! 
See  the  King — I  would  help  him  but  cannot,  the 

wishes  fall  through. 
Could  I  wrestle  to  raise  him  from  sorrow,  grow  poor 

to  enrich. 
To  fill  up  his  life,  starve  my  own  out,  I  would — 

knowing  which, 
I    know   that   my   service   is   perfect.     Oh,    speak 

through  me  now! 
Would  I  suffer  for  him  that  I  love?     So  wouldst 

thou — so  wilt  thoul 


Saul  3 1 

So  shall  crown  thee  the  topmost,  ineffablest,  utter- 
most crown — 
And  thy  love  fill  infinitude  wholly,  nor  leave  up  nor 

down 
One  spot  for  the  creature  to  stand  in!     It  is  by  no 

breath, 
Turn  of  eye,  wave  of  hand,  that  salvation  joins  issue 

with  death! 
As  thy  Love  is  discovered  almighty,  almighty  be  proved 
Thy  power,   that  exists  with  and  for  it,  of  being 

Beloved ! 
He  who  did  most,  shall  bear  most;  the  strongest 

shall  stand  the  most  weak. 
'Tis  the  weakness  in  strength,  that  I  cry  for!  my 

flesh,  that  I  seek 
In  the  Godhead!     I  seek  and  I  find  it.     O  Saul,  it 

shall  be 
A  Face  like  my  face  that  receives  thee;  a  Man  like 

to  me. 
Thou  shalt  love  and  be  loved  by,  forever:  a  Hand 

like  this  hand 
Shall  throw  open  the  gates  of  new  life  to  thee !     See 

the  Christ  stand!" 

XIX 

I  know  not  too  well  how  I  found  my  way  home  in 

the  night. 
There  were  witnesses,  cohorts  about  me,  to  left  and 

to  right, 


32  Saul 

Angels,  powers,  the  unuttered,  unseen,  the  alive,  the 

aware : 
I  repressed,  I  got  through  them  as  hardly,  as  strug- 

glingly  there. 
As  a  runner  beset  by  the  populace  famished  for  news  — 
Life  or  death.     The  whole  earth  was  awakened,  hell 

loosed  with  her  crews; 
And  the  stars  of  night  beat  with  emotion,  and  tingled 

and  shot 
Out  in  fire  the  strong  pain  of  cent  knowledge:  but 

I  fainted  not. 
For  the   Hand  still  impelled  me  at  once  and  sup- 
ported, suppressed 
All  the  tumult,  and  quenched  it  with  quiet,  and  holy 

behest. 
Till  the  rapture  was  shut  in  itself,  and  the  earth 

sank  to  rest. 
Anon  at  the  dawn,  all  that  trouble  had  withered  from 

earth — 
Not  so  much,  but  I  saw  it  die  out  in  the  day's  tender 

birth; 
In  the  gathered  intensity  brought  to  the  gray  of  the 

hills; 
In  the  shuddering  forests'  held  breath;  in  the  sudden 

wind-thrills; 
In  the  startled  wild  beasts  that  bore  off,  each  with 

eye  sidling  still 
Though  averted  with  wonder  and  dread;  in  the  birds 

stiff  and  chill 


Saul  2iZ 

That  rose  heavily,  as  I  approached  them,  made 
stupid  with  awe; 

E'en  the  serpent  that  sHd  away  silent, — he  felt  the 
new  law. 

The  same  stared  in  the  white  humid  faces  unturned 
by  the  flowers; 

The  same  worked  in  the  heart  of  the  cedar  and 
moved  the  vine-bowers; 

And  the  little  brooks  witnessing  murmured,  persist- 
ent and  low. 

With  their  obstinate,  all  but  hushed  voices — "E'en 
so,  it  is  so!" 


A   STUDY  OF    BROWNING'S 
SAUL 

This  poem  is  a  fine  illustration  of  the  power 
of  genius  over  materials,  of  the  way  in  which  an 
active  intellect  works. 

Browning  read  in  Shakespeare's  "The  Tem- 
pest" the  "aside"  of  Caliban, 

"I  must  obey;  his  art  is  of  such  power, 
It  would  control  my  dam's  god,  Setebos, 
And  make  a  vassal  of  him," 

and,  seizing  upon  the  thought  contained  in  the 
words  "my  dam's  god,  Setebos,"  he  conceived 
his  wonderful  poem,  "Caliban  upon  Setebos;  or. 
Natural  Theology  in  the  Island," 

He  read  in  "King  Lear"  the  line  of  Edgar's 
song,  "Child  Rowland  to  the  dark  tower  came," 
and  amplified  it  into  the  realistic  imagery  of 
"Childe  Roland  to  the  Dark  Tower  Came,"  a 
picture  of  constancy  to  an  ideal. 

A  short  sentence,  a  phrase,  even  a  word  may 
be  a  hint  sufficient  for  the  inspiration  of  genius, 
which  sees  within  the  little,  the  commonplace, 
the  unimportant,  a  seed-thought  capable  of  mar- 
velous development. 

35 


^6        A  Study  of  Browning s  Saul 

Browning  read,  as  we  all  have  many  times, 
I  Sam.  xvi.  10-23.  On  this  foundation  he  con- 
structed "Saul,"  one  of  his  most  famous  master- 
pieces, if  not  his  greatest,  one  of  the  grandest 
poems  of  the  century.  The  first  nine  sections 
were  published  under  the  same  name  in  No.  VII. 
of  a  series  of  poems,  entitled  "Bells  and  Pome- 
granates, "  in  1845.  They  were  enlarged  by  the 
addition  of  ten  sections,  and  published  in  another 
series  called  "Men  and  Women,"  in  1855. 

How  much  of  the  base  of  this  poem  did 
Browning  take  from  the  Bible?  It  is  evident 
that  the  description  of  David,  in  section  II., 
"God's  child  with  his  dew  on  thy  gracious  gold 
hair,"  is  drawn  from  verse  7  of  Samuel,  though 
there  is  far  less  stress  placed  by  the  poet  upon 
the  physical  beauty  of  David  than  is  found  in  the 
Bible.  Sections  I.,  III.,  and  IV.  are  true  to  the 
sacred  record  in  representing  Saul  as  possessed 
by  an  evil  spirit,  while  the  sections  from  V.  to 
XVI.  are  likewise  faithful  in  picturing  David  as 
ministering  to  Saul  by  means  of  his  harp.  But 
with  this  resemblance  the  comparison  ends. 
The  limited  statements  of  scripture  have  been 
so  skillfully  combined  with  original  ideas  as  to 
form  a  perfect  harmony  of  truth  and  beauty. 

It  is  interesting  and  profitable  to  trace  an 


A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul        37 

author's  use  of  his  materials.  One  of  the  best 
ways  to  study  Shakespeare  is  to  examine  care- 
fully his  sources,  then  to  note  what  from  these 
sources  is  in  the  play  and  what  is  left  out. 
What  in  the  play  is  not  suggested  in  the  source. 
Find  reasons  for  the  selection,  for  the  omission, 
and  for  the  addition.  We  shall  thus  see  how 
genius  reveals  the  significance  of  the  common- 
place, how  keen  and  active  are  its  mental  and 
spiritual  senses. 

David  played.  The  Bible  says  nothing  of  the 
tunes  or  the  songs,  but  Browning  heard  them 
all.  The  Bible  states  that  "Saul  was  refreshed, 
and  was  well,  and  the  evil  spirit  departed  from 
him,"  but  there  is  not  a  hint  as  to  David's  feel- 
ing for  Saul.  The  poet  tells  us  Jiow  Saul  was 
revived,  how  David  felt. 

George  Eliot,  while  walking  one  day,  saw  a 
weaver,  stooped,  pale,  and  sad,  carrying  a  bundle. 
What  made  him  look  so?  she  asked  herself. 
What  could  save  and  restore  him?  Could  a 
little  child  do  so  much?  The  weaver  became 
to  her  a  living  character,  and  her  vision  of  him 
produced  "Silas  Mamer. " 

Frances  Hodgson  Burnett,  in  her  youth,  met 
a  young  girl  whose  face  haunted  her  until  she 
created  "That  Lass  o'  Lowrie's. " 


38         A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul 

Thus,  by  the  alchemy  of  mind  the  humblest 
things  of  life  may  be  transformed  into  the  fin- 
ished creation  of  the  artist. 

An  analysis  of  the  poem  shows  the  following 
large  divisions: 

A.  The  preparatory  statement,  giving  the 
arrival  of  David,  the  condition  of  Saul,  David's 
approach  to  Saul.     I. -IV. 

B.  The  tunes  and  the  songs,  their  effect  on 
Saul.     V.-XV. 

C.  David's  final  statement,  setting  forth  the 
revelation  of  God's  love  to  him.     XVI. -XIX. 

D.  David's  experience  on  leaving  the  tent. 
XIX. 

Consider  the  artist's  sense  of  proportion  in 
the  use  of  his  materials.  It  is  here  that  the  skill 
of  the  great  novelist  is  displayed.  We  feel  the 
charm  of  the  story  in  its  progress,  but  do  not 
know  one  of  the  secrets  of  its  fascination  until 
we  have  looked  into  the  distribution  of  pages 
and  chapters,  into  the  author's  "economy  of 
means. ' ' 

In  this  analysis  we  see  that  the  preparatory 
statement  is  briefly  made  because  it  is  compara- 
tively unimportant.  The  second  division  is  very 
long;  it  represents  the  conflict,  the  development 
of  action  in  the  poem.     The  final  statement  is 


A  Shidy  of  Browning  s  Saul        39 

comparatively  brief,  growing  out  of  the  second 
division;  and  David's  experience  on  the  home- 
ward way  is  still  more  briefly  related,  requiring 
only  section  XIX. 

Who  was  Saul?  In  answering  this  question, 
we  are  reminded  of  the  importance  of  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  Bible  as  a  foundation  for  the  study 
of  English  literature.  The  Bible  and  the  litera- 
ture of  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans  have  been 
described  by  Professor  R.  G.  Moulton  as  "our 
ancestral  literature,  the  mines  out  of  which  our 
ancestors  have  drawn,  the  currency  by  which 
modem  literature  transacts  itself. "  It  is  not, 
however,  necessary  to  become  familiar  with  the 
classic  literature  of  Greece  and  Rome  through 
the  Greek  and  the  Latin  languages.  Only  the 
few  are  able  to  read  the  Bible  in  Hebrew  or 
Greek.  We  know  it  through  translation,  and  as 
it  thus  has  become  power  to  us,  so  may  the  other 
branches  of  our  ancestral  literature  through 
translation  prepare  us  to  appreciate  modem 
literature. 

Saul  was  the  first  king  of  Israel,  a  son  of 
Kish,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin.  He  was 
anointed  king  by  Samuel.  He  fought  with 
great  success  against  the  enemies  of  Israel,  and 
governed  well  in  the  earlier  part  of  his  reign,  but 


40         A  Study  of  Browning  s  Saul 

afterwards  became  wicked,  committed  great 
cruelties,  and  fell,  together  with  three  of  his 
sons,  in  the  battle  of  Mount  Gilboa  against  the 
Philistines,  about  1055  B.  C.  At  the  time  in- 
dicated in  the  poem  Saul  had  been  disobedient 
to  divine  command,  stubborn,  and  rebellious; 
he  had  been  reproved  by  Samuel  and  rejected 
by  God.  David,  the  youngest  son  of  Jesse  the 
Bethlehemite,  had  been  anointed  king  by  Samuel, 
to  succeed  Saul.  "The  spirit  of  the  Lord  came 
upon  David  from  that  day  forward";  "But  the 
spirit  of  the  Lord  departed  from  Saul,  and  an 
evil  spirit  from  the  Lord  troubled  him."  He 
became  a  wreck,  a  ruin.  We  can  easily  imagine 
that  ever  since  his  final  separation  from  Samuel 
he  had  had  strange  attacks  of  melancholy  mad- 
ness, which  to  his  servants  seemed  possession  by 
an  evil  spirit.  Samuel  had  been  to  him  the 
means  of  communication  with  God  and  the 
source  of  divine  blessing. 

Anna  M.  Stoddart,  in  a  Browning  Society 
paper,  writes:  "Left  to  himself,  Saul,  whose 
headstrong  pride  was  complicated  with  an  in- 
vincible faith  in  God  and  a  sense  of  his  sov- 
ereignty, suffered  awful  relapses  into  despair. 
He  endured,  as  a  fallen  angel  might  have  done, 
the  agonies  of  a  helplessness  at  which  his  pride 


A  Study  of  Bjvwning  s  Saul        41 

rebelled,  but  which  his  faith  brought  home  to 
him."  She  reminds  us  that  the  Jews  had  no 
middle  course,  that  they  were  either  safe  in  the 
hands  of  God  or  wrecked  in  their  own.  Saul 
had  made  his  choice  and  was  wrecked. 

The  power  of  music  was  understood  at  that 
early  day.  David  was  noted  for  cunning  in  play- 
ing. The  servants  of  Saul  had  persuaded  him 
to  send  to  Jesse  for  "thy  son  which  is  with  the 
sheep."  Thus  David  had  stood  before  the 
King,  had  found  favor  in  his  sight,  had  played 
upon  the  harp,  and  had  caused  the  evil  spirit  to 
depart  for  the  time. 

The  poem  is  dramatic  narrative,  characterized 
by  a  play  of  imagination  and  passion  that  places 
it  in  the  class  of  dramatic  lyrics.  Dr.  Oscar  L. 
Triggs  maintains  that  Browning  has  contributed 
to  poetry  three  things,  a  new  personality,  a  new 
method,  and  a  new  philosophy;  that  his  method 
has  three  unique  features,  the  form  of  the  dra- 
matic monologue,  the  method  of  idealism,  and 
the  principle  of  correspondency.  He  shows  how 
Browning's  monologists  differ  from  those  of  any 
other  poet  by  adding  an  environment,  a  scenic 
background,  outlining  against  it  their  own  plot 
and  character,  and  suggesting  the  composition  of 
still    other  personages  caught  in  the   situation. 


42         A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul 

His  principle  of  correspondency  makes  the  con- 
tent of  the  poem  determine  its  form.  Therefore 
Browning  has  as  many  forms  or  molds  of  expres- 
sion as  he  has  characters  and  poems.  Rough- 
ness, ruggedness,  double  and  grotesque  rhymes, 
are  in  harmony  with  the  subject  embodied. 
"Caliban  upon  Setebos, "  "The  Grammarian's 
Funeral,"  and  the  "Soliloquy  of  the  Spanish 
Cloister"  are  excellent  illustrations.  "Saul"  is 
comparatively  simple  and  perfect  in  expression, 
regular,  musical,  exquisitely  beautiful,  because 
the  content  is  noble  and  attractive  in  the  highest 
degree. 

A.  The  preparatory  statement,  giving  the 
arrival  of  David,  the  condition  of  Saul  David's 
approach  to  Saul.     I. -IV. 

The  poem  opens  with  the  arrival  of  David  in 
response  to  a  special  messenger  from  the  king. 
Observe  that  Browning  represents  David  as  the 
speaker,  telling  over,  early  in  the  morning,  alone 
with  his  sheep  by  the  brook  Kidron,  the  wonder- 
ful experience  that  came  to  him  on  the  afternoon 
and  evening  of  the  day  before. 

Abner,  Saul's  first  cousin,  and  the  com- 
mander-in-chief of  his  army,  greets  David  with 
a  gladness  and  a  hope  which  his  coming  has 
brought  to  hearts  in  the  depths  of  anxiety  and 


A  Study  of  Browning'' s  Satil        43 

fear.  From  section  I.  we  learn  that  for  three 
days  and  three  nights  Saul  had  remained  alone 
in  the  black  silence  of  the  mid-tent  of  his  royal 
pavilion,  not  a  sound  escaping  to  tell  of  the 
agony  within,  and  that  his  servants  would  neither 
eat  nor  drink  until  they  knew  that  their  king  was 
alive. 

Mark  the  rare  beauty  of  expression  of  sec- 
tion II.  The  loveliness  of  the  youthful  David 
inspires  Abner  with  the  thrill  of  expectancy. 

The  alliteration  of  ^  in  the  second  line  is  force- 
ful, and  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  more 
pleasing  choice  of  adjectives  than  "gracious, 
gold. ' '  David  rises  before  us,  "a  slender  youth, 
quick  of  movement,  hair  of  reddish  gold,  face 
and  form  of  magnetic  gentleness  and  tender- 
ness." The  "lilies  still  living  and  blue"  impart 
to  us  an  atmosphere  of  purity  and  coolness. 
When  David  started  on  his  mission  to  Saul  at 
Elah,  "he  had  plucked,  by  the  waters  of  Kidron, 
a  handful  of  blue  irises,  and  twined  their  broad 
leaves  round  the  strings  of  his  harp,  to  shield 
them  from  the  fierce  heat  of  his  journey  over 
that  desolate  region  where  the  sterile  hills  lie 
exposed  to  the  glare  of  noon,  and  the  very  stones 
and  sand  of  the  valleys  are  so  scorched  that  part 
of  it  is  known  as  the  'Valley  of  Fire.'  " 


44        ^  Study  of  Bi'ownin^ s  Saul 

In  section  III.  David  relates  how,  first,  he 
knelt  to  the  God  of  his  fathers,  then  ran  o'er  the 
hot  sand,  stooped  under  the  outer  enclosure  of 
the  mid-tent,  groped  on  hands  and  knees  to  the 
second  enclosure,  prayed  again,  "and  opened 
the  fold-skirts  and  entered  and  was  not  afraid. ' ' 
No  voice  replied  to  his  gentle  announcement, 
"Here  is  David,  thy  servant!"  Saul  was  lost 
to  sense.  When  David's  eyes,  dazzled  by  the 
glare  of  the  afternoon  sun,  became  gradually 
accustomed  to  the  darkness,  he  descried  the 
huge  main  prop,  with  its  cross-beam  supporting 
the  pavilion,  then  slowly  to  his  sight  appeared  a 
figure  against  it,  then  a  sunbeam  suddenly  falling 
upon  it  through  the  tent  roof  revealed  to  him 
Saul. 

Section  IV.  completes  the  first  topic  of  the 
outline  and  presents  a  remarkable  picture  of 
Saul.  Mark  the  nobility  and  appropriateness 
of  the  simile.  Saul  in  his  tent  is  like  the  king- 
serpent,  caught  in  his  pangs,  hanging  heavily  in 
the  pine,  away  from  his  kind,  waiting  for  his 
change  which  shall  come  with  the  springtime. 

In  our  study  of  literature  we  should  question 
the  figure  of  speech.  What  does  the  figure 
bring  to  the  idea?  Does  it  degrade  or  ennoble 
its  subject?     In  the  present  case  we  wish  to 


A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul        45 

dignify  Saul  even  in  his  wretchedness.  What 
power,  greatness,  loneliness,  agony,  possible 
deliverance,  in  this  picture  of  the  king-serpent; 
what  strength  in  the  accumulation  of  epithets, 
"drear  and  stark,  blind  and  dumb!"  Try  to 
see  everything  that  is  contained  in  a  piece  of 
literature.  There  is  no  better  practice  than  to 
state  aloud  without  the  text  every  detail  in  a 
selection;  as,  for  example,  every  detail  in  the 
narration  before  David  went  into  the  tent,  every 
detail  in  the  description  of  Saul.  This  becomes 
a  more  and  more  difficult  task  as  the  poem  oro- 
ceeds. 

B.  The  tunes  and  the  songs,  their  effect  on 
Saul.     V.-XV. 

Section  V.  opens  the  main  action.  David 
took  his  harp,  untwined  the  lilies,  and  began  to 
play.  George  Willis  Cooke  says,  in  his  "Brown- 
ing Guide-Book, "  that  David  presents  three 
series  of  motives  to  Saul,  each  series  rising  higher 
than  the  preceding. 

I.  Tunes  played  to  the  brutes. 

1.  To  the  sheep,  in  V. 

2.  To  the  quail,  in  VI. 

3.  To  the  crickets,  in  VI. 

4.  To  the  jerboa,  in  VI. 


46        A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul 

II.  The   help-tunes   of    the    great   epochs   in 
human  Hfe. 

1.  Reapers,  in  VII. 

2.  Burial,  in  VII. 

3.  Marriage,  in  VII. 

4.  Soldiers,  in  VII. 

5.  Priests,  in  VII. 

III.   Songs  of  human  aspiration. 

1.  The  wild  joys  of  living,  in  IX. 

2.  The  fame  crowning  ambition  and  deeds, 

in  IX. 

3.  The  praise  of   unborn  generations,    in 

XIII. 

4.  The  next  world's  reward  and  repose,  in 

XVII. 

5.  The  love  which  is  the  Christ,  in  XVIII. 

A  general  list  of  eleven  might  be  made  as 
follows: 
I.   Animal  tunes. 

1.  The  folding  tune,  in  V. 

2.  The  quail  tune,  in  VI. 

3.  The  cricket  tune,  in  VI. 

4.  The  jerboa  tune,  in  VI. 
II.   Human  tunes. 

5.  The  reaper's  tune,  in  VII. 

6.  The  funeral  tune,  in  VII. 


A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul        47 

7.  The  marriage  tune,  in  VII. 

8.  The  friendship  tune,  in  VII. 

9.  The  Levite  chant,  in  VII. 
III.   Harp  and  voice. 

10.  Song  of  Saul's  life  before  he  was  king, 

in  IX.  and  X. 

11.  Song  of  Saul's  future  glory,  in  XIII., 

XVII.,  XVIII. 

Another  classification  may  be  made  on  the 
principle  of  the  effect  of  these  tunes  and  songs 
upon  Saul,  giving  three  classes: 
I.  The  animal  and  the  human  tunes,  V.-IX. 

Saul  groaned,  he  shuddered. 
II.   The  song  of  Saul's  life  before  he  was  king, 
IX. 
Saul  was  struck  by  his  name,  was  left  stand- 
ing, released,  and  aware. 
III.   The  song  of  Saul's  future  glory,  XIII. 

Saul  sat,  observed  and  caressed  David, 
recognizing  his  beauty,  his  sweetness, 
and  his  love. 

Tracing  the  steps  in  Saul's  return  to  con- 
scious life,  exercising  the  thought  that  leads  to 
individual  discovery,  is  another  excellent  means 
of  mental  training.  Laboratory  work  is  no 
longer  confined  to  instruction  in  science,  but  is 


48         A  Study  of  Browning'' s  Saul 

now  a  special  feature  in  the  teaching  of  litera- 
ture, and  such  original  investigation  as  this  poem 
offers  may  be  regarded  as  one  phase  of  English 
laboratory  work.  The  pouring-in  process,  the 
phonograph  process,  is  happily  passing  from  all 
departments  of  instruction. 

Let  us  return  to  section  V.  for  the  considera- 
tion of  the  action  and  its  expression. 

David  first  played  the  tune  used  at  the  sheep- 
folding.  Is  Browning's  picture  of  the  sheep  a 
true  one?  Could  the  shepherd  play  a  tune  that 
would  bring  them  one  by  one  to  the  pen-door? 
How  beautiful  they  are,  clean,  sweet,  whole, 
because  they  have  fed  "where  the  long  grasses 
stifle  the  water  within  the  stream's  bed."  Do 
sheep  follow  one  after  another, 

"As  star  follows  star 
Into  eve  and  the  blue  far  above  us — so  blue  and  so 
far"? 

Is  the  simile  of  the  star  a  good  one?  Was  it 
natural  for  David  to  associate  the  sheep  with  the 
stars?  This  tune  should  affect  Saul  because  he 
was  a  shepherd  before  he  was  a  warrior. 

The  jerboa  is  a  small  jumping  rodent,  or 
jumping  hare,  "half  bird  and  half  mouse," 
Browning  says. 


A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul        49 

The  last  lines  of  section  VI., 

"God  made  all  the  creatures  and  gave  them  our  love 

and  our  fear, 
To  give  sign,   we   and  they  are  his  children,   one 

family  here," 

reflect  the  spirit  of  our  age,  not  that  of  David's 
time,  love  for  animals  and  respect  for  their  rights. 
This  feeling  toward  lower  animate  life  is  one  of 
the  characteristics  of  the  romantic  movement  of 
our  century,  and  is  well  represented  by  the  poets 
Burns,  Cowper,  Coleridge,  Shelley,  and  Words- 
worth. Shelley  carried  the  sentiment  so  far  as 
to  become  a  vegetarian.  The  new  spirit  has 
given  us  our  present  interest  in  animal  life  and 
our  protection  of  it. 

Finding  Saul  unmoved,  David  left  the  tunes 
that  "touch  and  please  the  creatures  of  the  pas- 
ture lands, ' '  and  turned  to  the  help-tunes  of  the 
great  epochs  in  human  life.  First,  the  glad 
wine-song  of  the  reapers,  their  joy  and  their 
fellowship  in  labor;  then  the  last  song  for  the 
dead;  the  happy  chant  of  the  marriage;  and  the 
great  march  of  men  united  in  building  for  service 
or  defense.  Is  there  a  historical  foundation  for 
this  music?  In  Isaiah  xvi.  9,  10,  and  in  2  Chron. 
XXXV.  25,  we  have  references  to  songs  of  reapers 
and  songs  of  lamentation.     In  answer  to  this 


so        A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul 

question,  Rabbi  Charles  Fleischer,  of  Boston, 
said:  "I  believe  that  David's  songs  in  Brown- 
ing's poem  'Saul'  are  the  inspired  melodies  of 
our  nineteenth-century  David  rather  than  the 
songs  of  Israel's  poetic  shepherd  king.  While, 
then,  I  believe  that  these  melodies  were  not 
current  among  the  Jews  of  old,  I  know  that  they 
would  serve  well  to  express  beliefs  and  ideals 
characteristic  of  the  best  minds  among  the  Jews 
to-day." 

These  strains  of  elemental  pleasure,  of  human 
companionship,  happiness,  and  love,  with  all 
their  appeal  to  memory  and  to  emotion,  failed 
to  rouse  the  king  from  his  death-like  lethargy. 
Once  more  the  harp  was  tuned,  now  to  the 
deeper  strain  of  worship,  to  the  grand  proces- 
sional chorus  of  the  Levites  as  they  went  up  "to 
the  altar  in  glory  enthroned."  But  David's 
harp  ceased  quickly,  "for  here  in  the  darkness 
Saul  groaned,"  while  the  tent  shook  with  the 
shudder  that  passed  through  the  frame  of  this 
mighty  man. 

Were  the  songs  cumulative  in  their  effect 
upon  Saul,  only  the  chant  of  the  Levites  being 
needed  to  complete  the  silent  influence  of  those 
preceding  it?  Or  was  it  the  power  of  religion, 
the  strength  of  the  religious  associations  of  a 


A  Study  of  Brow7t2ng  s  Said        51 

lifetime  centered  in  this  sacred  chorus,  making 
him  realize  his  broken  communion  with  God,  the 
awful  contrast  between  his  former  self  and  his 
present  condition?  The  influence  which  so  pain- 
fully affected  the  spirit  of  Saul  was  doubtless  the 
result  both  of  the  cumulative  power  of  the  melo- 
dies, and  the  sacred  nature  of  the  chant  of  the 
Levites,  which  linked  it  to  the  most  precious 
things  of  his  life  in  the  past. 

Note  the  language  of  section  VIII.,  the  mar- 
velous description  of  jewels,  "lordly  male- 
sapphires,  and  rubies  courageous  at  heart." 
Browning  resembled  George  Eliot  in  his  love  for 
jewels.  It  is  said  of  her  that  she  preferred 
precious  stones  to  flowers,  so  great  was  her 
pleasure  in  the  play  of  colors. 

But  only  Saul's  head  moved,  his  body  still 
hung  erect  in  its  suffering.  He  had  been 
reached,  yet  only  reached.  So  David  bent 
again  to  the  harp.  Now  Saul,  and  Saul  alone, 
filled  his  mind  and  inspired  a  song — not  the  fail- 
ure before  him,  but  the  ideal  Saul  in  the  years 
of  his  early  manhood.  Section  IX.  contains  the 
words  of  the  song,  a  tribute  to  physical  life  and 
to  the  perfection  of  Saul's  development  through 
nature,  happy  family  relations,  and  national 
greatness,  that  for  thought,  for  force  and  artistic 


52        A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul 

beauty  of  expression  grows  more  impressive  and 
delightful  the  more  familiar  we  are  with  it.  The 
first  twelve  lines  should  be  thoroughly  memo- 
rized by  us  all  and  often  repeated.  They  will 
serve  as  a  tonic  for  physical  weakness.  We 
should  expect  such  lines  from  a  poet  who  was 
distinguished  for  magnificent  physique,  health, 
vigor  of  body  and  mind,  massive  breadth  of 
character,  courage,  cheerfulness,  optimism,  love 
of  nature  and  of  art,  joy  in  fellowship  with  every 
living  thing. 

One  of  the  most  hopeful  signs  of  to-day  is 
our  growing  appreciation  of  man's  body,  and  our 
consequent  effort  to  raise  it  to  the  perfection  of  all 
its  powers.  The  delicate,  fainting  maid  is  giving 
place  in  life  and  in  literature  to  the  nut-brown 
maid;  the  feeble  scholar,  his  brow  sicklied  o'er 
with  the  pale  cast  of  thought,  is  receding  from 
ministerial  and  student  life.  A  professor  wittily 
remarked  that  now  only  the  unusually  pressed 
or  the  unusually  dull  burn  midnight  oil.  Many 
students  have  heretofore  been  defrauded  in  mat- 
ters of  health.  Until  recently  section  IX.  could 
have  been  applicable  to  young  men  only,  not  to 
young  women.  Let  us  strive  to  extend  the 
influence  of  the  spirit  of  these  lines.  Do  we 
feel  the  thrill  of  the  physical  life  they  picture? 


A  Study  of  Broivning' s  Saul         '^'^ 

Have  we  lived  or  visited  where  the  description 
is  appropriate  in  its  details? 

David  sets  forth  three  kinds  of  good  in  this 
song:  physical  life,  life  in  the  family,  life  in  the 
nation.  Saul  has  reached  the  highest  attainment 
in  each  of  these.  Love,  and  even  human  sor- 
row, in  the  home  life,  work,  friendship,  ambition, 
great  deeds,  have  contributed  to  the  develop- 
ment of  this  boyhood  of  wonder  and  hope,  until 
at  last,  crowned  by  fame,  all  gifts  have  been 

"Brought  to  blaze  on  the  head  of  one  creature — 
King  Saul!" 

The  closing  lines  of  this  section,  as  published  in 
"Bells  and  Pomegranates"  in  1845,  are  as 
follows: 

"On  one  head  the  joy  and  the  pride,  even  rage  like 

the  throe 
That  opes  the  rock,  helps  its  glad  labor,  and  lets 

the  gold  go — 
And  ambition  that  sees  a  man  lead  it — oh,  all  of 

these — all 
Combine  to  unite  in  one  creature — Saul!" 

The  words,  "like  the  throe,"  etc.,  explain  the 
meaning  of  "rage."  David  has  just  spoken  of 
beauty  and  love,  and  now  puts  rage  in  the  same 
category,  offering  his  explanation  on  the  instant. 


54        -^  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul 

Gold  is  usually  found  in  cracks  of  the  rock  that 
has  been  rent  asunder  by  throes  or  convulsions 
of  nature;  and  as  the  rending  "opes  the  rock, 
helps  its  glad  labor,  and  lets  the  gold  go,"  so 
the  best  of  life  is  frequently  revealed  by  dis- 
ruptive forces.  This  is  Browning's  common 
doctrine  of  evil. 

It  seems  at  first  thought  incredible  to  us  that 
Browning  should  ever  have  ended  the  poem  here. 
It  is  said  that  when  he  thus  closed  it  he  meant 
us  to  suppose  Saul  free,  that  the  glory  of  his 
past  record  was  enough  to  restore  him  and  to 
inspire  him  in  the  future.  In  the  ten  years  fol- 
lowing the  first  publication.  Browning  lived  and 
rounded  out  human  experience,  and  in  the  new 
light  of  this  life  and  experience  he  doubtless 
composed  the  fuller  song.  Keep  the  thought  in 
mind  when  you  read  the  poem,  and  see  if  you 
cannot  feel  this  reason  for  the  addition. 

Section  X.  opens  with  the  revelation  of 
David's  soul  to  us,  the  intensity  of  his  desire  to 
break  the  spell  that  bound  the  man,  to  rescue 
him  from  despair  by  the  memory  of  that  royal 
past.  So  intense  was  his  spirit  that  it  leaped 
through  heart,  hand,  harp,  and  voice  to  one 
mighty  appeal — "Saul!" — that  thrilled  with  a 
long  shudder  the  black,  lifeless  frame  and  the 


A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul        55 

tent,  and  left  the  king  standing,   released  and 
conscious. 

Then  follows  another  of  the  forcible  and 
beautiful  figures  of  the  poem.  It  is  long, 
requiring  a  vigorous  mind  for  its  production,  as 
for  its  appreciation.  Saul  is  the  mountain  from 
whose  breast  the  year's  weight  of  snow  has  at 
last  suddenly  fallen  under  the  rays  of  the  return- 
ing sun;  David  in  his  beauty  is  the  springtime, 
softening  that  mountain  for  the  nest  of  the  bird 
and  the  feet  of  the  goat  with  its  young.  The 
figure  is  perfect  in  application.  As  the  breast- 
plate of  snow  long  seems  to  withstand  the  gentle 
yet  increasing  warmth  of  the  golden  rays  directed 
toward  it,  but  finally  is  loosened  and  comes 
thundering  down  to  the  base,  so  Saul  seemed  to 
resist  the  sweet  and  ever  stronger  influence  of 
harp  and  voice,  yet  in  time  was  released  with  the 
convulsion  of  his  being.  He  was  awakened 
from  death,  but  real  life  had  not  returned  to 
him.  He  must  be  recalled  to  hope  and  activity 
ere  the  work  of  the  singer  is  complete.  His 
vacant  eyes  gave  sign  that,  though  he  was  con- 
scious, he  had  no  interest  in  the  affairs  of  life. 
One  could  gaze  at  them,  just  as  in  autumn  one 
may  watch  without  fear  of  harm  the  pallid  sun 
as  it  drops  into  the  ocean,  or  as  it  sinks  behind 


S^        A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul 

a  massive  range  of  hills.  The  spirit  was  lost  to 
the  eyes,  as  the  true  nature  to  the  sunset.  We 
assume  here  that  the  poet  had  in  mind  two 
autumn  sunsets.  David  was  troubled.  How 
could  he  enliven  and  sustain  the  king.-' 

Mark  the  figure,  "the  wine  of  this  life,"  and 
compare  with  "the  palm-wine"  of  section  XIII. 
David's  song  had  made  Saul's  past  yield  all  its 
beauty  and  strength,  its  full  cup  of  wine,  but 
this  had  served  only  to  arouse,  to  call  back  to 
life.  Saul  would  rather  die  than  live.  What 
vintage  could  bear  wine  more  potent  "to  brighten 
the  eye  and  bring  blood  to  the  lip"? 

We  pass  to  section  XII.  As  David  thus 
sought  for  nobler  truth,  he  felt  his  spirit  coming 
under  the  power  of  fancy,  as  in  days  gone  by 
when,  alone  with  his  sheep,  he  mused  on  man 
and  his  life  in  the  great  world;  and  his  harp 
responded  to  the  higher,  richer  notes  of  section 
XIII.  He  rose  from  the  plane  of  sense;  Saul 
was  right  in  rejecting  the  comforts  of  a  merely 
mortal  existence. 

What  does  the  palm-tree  stand  for?  What 
the  palm-wine?  The  tree  represents  the  physi- 
cal life  of  man,  slowly  developing  to  perfect 
maturity,  its  active  work  and  its  pleasures;  the 
palm-wine,   all   the   joy  which   comes   to   man 


A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul        57 

through  the  spiritual  nature  and  all  the  good 
which  proceeds  from  that  nature.  As  the  palm- 
tree  is  important  only  for  its  fruit,  its  wine,  so 
Saul's  life  was  significant  only  for  what  it  yielded 
to  himself  and  to  the  world.  What  is  the  value 
of  the  long  description  of  the  palm-tree?  It 
symbolizes  the  slow  development  of  man  from 
childhood  to  maturity.  David  poured  for  him 
two  long  draughts  of  soul-wine:  first,  he  could 
rejoice  in  the  outcome  of  his  own  deeds,  their 
effect  upon  his  people;  and  second,  he  could 
look  forward  to  an  immortality  of  fame.  Thus, 
through  the  spirit  alone  could  he  gain  real  sat- 
isfaction. As  the  sun  looks  upon  nothing 
which  his  rays  have  not  produced,  so  Saul 
might  see  in  the  flash  of  his  own  will,  his 
passion  and  prowess,  the  germ  of  the  radi- 
ance that  filled  North  and  South,  the  inspira- 
tion to  the  great  deeds  of  his  people,  both 
fathers  and  sons.  He  must  pass  away  even 
as  do  the  rose  and  the  lion,  but  no!  the 
chisel  and  the  pen  will  give  to  generations  yet 
unborn  a  part  in  his  being,  and  will  record  him 
the  first  of  the  mighty.  Let  him  then  thank 
God  and  take  courage. 

This  second  draught  of  soul-wine  represents 
the  only  immortality  in  which  George  Eliot  be- 


58         A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul 

lieved.     She  expressed  her  longing  for  it  in  the 
famous  Hnes, 

"O  may  I  join  the  choir  invisible 

Of  those  immortal  dead  who  live  again 

In  minds  made  better  by  their  presence:  live 

In  pulses  stirred  to  generosity, 

In  deeds  of  daring  rectitude,  in  scorn 

For  miserable  aims  that  end  with  self, 

In  thoughts  sublime  that  pierce  the  night  like  stars, 

And  with  their  mild  persistence  urge  man's  search 

To  vaster  issues." 

Professor  Corson  says  that  a  cardinal  idea 
with  Browning  is  the  regeneration  of  men  through 
a  personality  which  brings  new  feeling  fresh  from 
God,  that  the  quickening,  regenerating  power  of 
personality  is  everywhere  exhibited  in  his  poetry. 
Concerning  the  first  twenty-five  lines  of  section 
XIII.,  which  exult  in  the  immortality  of  Saul's 
deeds,  he  writes:  "In  the  concluding  lines  is  set 
forth  what  might  be  characterized  as  the  apostolic 
succession  of  a  great  personality — the  succession 
of  those  'who  in  turn  fill  the  South  and  the 
North  with  the  radiance  his  deed  was  the  germ 
of. '  "  He  further  writes:  "What  follows  in 
David's  song  gives  expression  to  the  other  mode 
of  transmitting  a  great  personality;  that  is, 
through  records  that  'give  unborn  generations 


A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul        59 

their  due  and  their  part  in  his  being, '  and  also 
to  what  those  records  owe  their  effectiveness, 
and  are  saved  from  becoming  a  dead  letter. ' ' 

We  must  have  observed  in  our  study  of  the 
poem  how  fine  is  Browning's  use  of  external 
nature,  and  how  true  he  is  to  David's  character 
in  presenting  him  in  close  touch  with  that  nature. 
How  long,  think  you,  would  it  require  to  learn 
all  that  David  knew  of  animal  and  plant,  of  earth 
and  sky?  His  knowledge  of  nature  and  his  love 
for  it  are  shown  in  Psalms  xix.  and  xxiii. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  of  present  studies 
in  literature  is  the  author's  use  of  external  nature, 
and  the  comparative  study  of  authors  in  this 
respect  is  specially  valuable.  How  do  the  writ- 
ers of  the  eighteenth  century  compare  with  those 
of  the  nineteenth  in  this  matter.-'  How  do  the 
poets  differ  in  their  attitude  towards  nature? 
Compare  Chaucer,  Shakespeare,  Scott,  Burns, 
Keats,  Shelley,  Wordsworth,  Bryant,  Longfel- 
low, and  Lowell.  By  this  means,  our  own 
observation  of  nature  is  enlarged,  our  love  for 
it  strengthened,  and  our  appreciation  of  the 
novelist  and  the  poet  greatly  advanced. 

At  section  XIV.  in  the  narration,  the  mem- 
ory of  the  marvels  of  David's  experience  on  the 
previous  night,  of  the  wonderful  revelation  made 


6o        A  Study  of  Browning  s  Saul 

to  him,  so  overcomes  him  that  he  looks  to  God 
for  his  presence  with  him  as  in  the  past,  that  he 
may  tell  out  the  tale  to  its  ending,  his  voice  to 
his  harp.  He  has  wakened  in  the  early  dawn  in 
a  dewy  covert  of  the  valley  of  the  brook  Kidron, 
east  of  Jerusalem,  not  far  from  Bethlehem. 
Alone  with  the  sheep,  his  soul  still  filled  with 
awe,  he  is  recalling  every  incident  of  the  experi- 
ence with  "fear  lest  the  terrible  glory  evanish 
like  sheep." 

And  what  was  the  effect  upon  Saul  of  the 
song  of  his  undying  fame?  In  section  XV.  we 
read  how  he  slowly  resumed  his  old  motions  and 
kingly  habits,  smoothed  his  hair,  adjusted  his 
turban,  wiped  the  sweat  of  agony  from  his  face, 
girded  his  loins  as  of  yore,  and  put  on  his  arm- 
lets. He  is  the  same  Saul  whom  God  chose  to 
be  king.  He  sank  upon  the  heap  of  garments 
at  the  base  of  the  tent-prop,  at  first  with  one 
arm  around  the  prop  to  support  his  head,  the 
other  slack  at  his  side.  As  David's  strains  rose 
to  the  glory  of  Saul  in  all  time,  the  king  encir- 
cled him  with  his  vast  knees,  and  responded  to 
his  earnest  look  by  laying  his  hand  gently  but 
firmly  upon  the  youthful  brow,  caressing  the 
hair,  and  bending  back  the  lovely  face  to  peruse 
it    as    one   might   scan   the    beautiful    flower. 


A  Study  of  Browning  s  Saul        6i 

Thus  face  to  face  were  the  two  whom  God  had 
anointed;  the  one  whom  he  had  rejected,  the 
other  whom  he  had  chosen  and  inspired. 

The  line  "To  receive  what  a  man  may  waste, 
desecrate,  never  quite  lose,"  is  significant  as 
one  of  the  many  evidences  in  Browning's  works  of 
his  belief  in  the  divine  and  eternal  nature  of  man. 

Had  David  failed,  or  succeeded,  at  the  open- 
ing of  section  XVII.  ?  As  he  was  held  in  Saul's 
embrace,  the  great  dark  eyes  of  the  king  look- 
ing into  his,  his  soul  thrilled  with  even  deeper 
love,  with  such  intensity  of  love  as  moved  his 
whole  being  in  passionate  desire  and  longing  to 
aid  and  to  bless  beyond  all  that  he  had  given. 
This  yearning  in  his  heart  is  evidence  that, 
though  he  had  done  great  things,  he  had  not 
fully  succeeded,  had  not  accomplished  all  he 
sought,  that  he  had  reached  the  limit  of  the 
power  of  human  love.  We  are  reminded  of  the 
disciples  when  Christ  came  down  from  the  Mount 
of  Transfiguration  and  found  them  in  their  help- 
lessness unable  to  cast  out  the  dumb  spirit  from 
the  afflicted  boy.  The  king's  present  need  far 
exceeded  David's  ability  to  serve,  for  though 
restored  to  himself,  he  was  yet  a  wreck,  his  life 
and  his  bearing  much  spent.  David's  love 
would  bestow  upon  Saul  not  only  that  glorious 


62        A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul 

life  of  the  past  and  of  the  future,  all  that  earth 
can  yield  to  man,  but  would  give  "new  life  alto- 
gether, as  good  ages  hence  as  this  moment," 
immortal  life  and  blessedness. 

"And  so,  in  this  mood,  with  this  divine 
desire,  he  is  carried  beyond  harp  and  song  into 
the  vision  and  message  of  the  prophet. ' '  God 
revealed  to  his  soul  the  highest  truth  of  life. 
See  how  that  moment  of  revelation  is  described 
in  the  poem : 

"then  at  the  summit  of  human  endeavor 
And  scaling  the  highest  man's  thought  could,  gazed 

hopeless  as  ever 
On  the  new  stretch  of  heaven  above  me — till,  mighty 

to  save. 
Just   one   lift  of  thy  hand  cleared  that  distance — 

God's  throne  from  man's  grave!" 

Here  David  dropped  the  harp  to  use  it  no  more 
in  this  service,  giving  utterance  with  words  alone 
to  the  divine  voice  that  spoke  within  him,  "as  if 
he  were  himself  the  harp  of  God  vibrating  at  the 
touch  of  the  Master's  fingers." 

What  is  the  function  of  music  in  the  poem? 
It  is  plainly  used,  not  as  an  end  in  itself,  but  as 
a  means  to  the  exalted  end  in  view.  Rev.  Pro- 
fessor E.  Johnson,  in  a  Browning  Society  paper, 
writes:  "Browning  is,  in  common  with  all  poets, 


A  Study  of  Browning'' s  Satil        (i^ 

both  musician  and  painter,  but  much  more  the 
latter  than  the  former.  He  is  never  for  a  mo- 
ment the  slave  of  his  ear,  if  I  may  so  express  it. 
We  know  that  he  has,  on  the  contrary,  the  mas- 
tery of  music.  But  music  helps  and  supports 
his  imagination,  never  controls  it.  Music  is  to 
Browning  an  inarticulate  revelation  of  the  truth 
of  the  supersensual  world,  the  'earnest  of  a 
heaven. '  He  is  no  voluptuary  in  music.  Music 
is  simply  the  means  by  which  the  soul  wings  its 
way  into  the  azure  of  spiritual  theory  and  con- 
templation. 'Saul'  is  a  magnificent  interpreta- 
tion of  the  old  theme,  a  favorite  with  the  mystics, 
that  evil  spirits  are  driven  out  by  music.  But 
in  this  interpretation  it  is  not  the  mere  tones,  the 
thrumming  on  the  harp,  it  is  the  religious  move- 
ment of  the  intelligence,  it  is  the  truth  of  Divine 
love  throbbing  in  every  chord,  which  constitutes 
the  spell." 

The  vision  and  the  message  of  the  prophetic 
David  fill  sections  XVH.  and  XVHI. 

C.  David's  final  statement,  setting  forth  the 
revelation  of  God's  love  to  him.     XVI. -XIX. 

A  careful  paraphrase  of  section  XVII.  will 
furnish  another  excellent  exercise. 

It  may  be  separated  into  two  divisions,  as 
follows: 


64        A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul 

1.  David's  experience  up  to  the  moment  of 
seeing  the  new  truth,  lines  1-25. 

2.  The  new  truth,  lines  26-49. 

The  first  division  may  be  subdivided  as  fol- 
lows: 

1.  David's  consciousness  of  his  own  little- 
ness as  he  studies  God's  power,  lines  1-17. 

2.  In  the  one  way  of  love  he  may  outstrip 
God,  lines  18-25. 

Try  to  state,  in  the  first  person,  to  some 
friend  the  substance  of  the  opening  twenty-five 
lines,  and  see  if  David's  meaning  is  clear  to  that 
friend.  This  practice  will  aid  your  own  under- 
standing of  them.  Macaulay  used  to  read  his 
writings  to  his  maid  to  test  their  clearness  of 
expression. 

David  sees  in  himself  the  work  of  God's 
hand,  and  with  the  brain  given  him  for  judg- 
ment, he  looks  out  upon  the  world  and  finds  that 
all  is  pervaded  by  love,  and  yet  all  is  governed 
by  law.  Each  attempt  to  understand  God  in  the 
least  thing  has  but  served  to  open  unfathomable 
depths  of  wisdom  and  power,  compared  with 
which  man's  knowledge,  wisdom,  and  forethought 
are  as  nothing.  Man's  work  is  imperfect;  he  can 
only  dream  of  success;  but  when  he  looks  upon 
creation,  he  sees  that  perfection  everywhere,  "in 


A  Study  of  Browning  s  Saul        6^ 

the  star,  in  the  stone,  in  the  flesh,  in  the  soul,  and 
the  clod."  Thus  looking  within  and  around 
him,  he  submits  in  the  spirit  of  humility  "man's 
nothing-perfect  to  God's  all-complete,"  and  by 
this  act  of  humility  is  exalted  toward  God. 

Such  is  the  thought  of  the  seventeen  lines, 
many  of  which  lend  themselves  finely  to  quota- 
tion, as,  for  example, 

"Each  faculty  tasked 
To  perceive  him,  has  gained  an  abyss,  where  a  dew- 
drop  was  asked." 

Tennyson  doubtless  had  in  mind  an  idea  similar 
to  that  of  this  line  when  he  wrote, 

"Flower  in  the  crannied  wall, 
I  pluck  you  out  of  the  crannies, 
I  hold  you  here,  root  and  all,  in  my  hand, 
Little  flower — but  i/  I  could  understand 
What  you  are,  root  and  all,  and  all  in  all, 
I  should  know  what  God  and  man  is." 

The  blessedness  of  the  grace  of  humility  has 
never  been  more  fittingly  described,  "that  stoop 
of  the  soul  which  in  bending  upraises  it,  too," 
"by  each  new  obeisance  in  spirit,  I  climb  to  his 
feet." 

Man  rises  superior  to  the  beast  of  the  field 
in  his  ability  to  see  the  greatness  of  God  in  ere- 


66        A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul 

ation.  He  is  exalted  by  that  act  of  imagination 
which  looks  through  the  seen  to  the  unseen 
Cause.  The  humble  pastor  who,  standing  in 
the  valley,  lifted  his  hat  to  the  distant  hills,  was 
a  lofty  man  in  spirit.  An  old  Scotch  Highlander, 
poor  and  weak,  was  observed  to  go  out  from  his 
little  cottage  early  each  morning  and  to  stand, 
with  bonnet  off,  looking  upward  to  the  moun- 
tains as  if  in  silent  prayer.  When  questioned 
concerning  the  habit,  he  replied,  "I  worship  the 
Father  when  my  soul  pays  its  tribute  to  the 
beauty  of  his  world. ' ' 

But  David  finds  one  faculty  in  his  own  soul, 
pleasant  in  its  use,  which  he  dare  not  exercise 
fully  lest  in  its  display  he  outstrip  God,  the 
Giver — the  faculty  of  love.  How  he  could  love! 
But  shall  he  so  worst  the  Maker  of  all?  No, 
not  for  love's  sake.  The  argument  of  the 
twenty-five  lines  is  practically  this:  When  I, 
David,  looked  upon  God's  power  in  creation,  my 
own  littleness  overcame  me;  but  when  I  looked 
upon  Saul,  I  seemed  to  love  him  more  than  God 
did. 

A  father  by  the  bedside  of  his  suffering  child 
had  David's  experience.  He  said  that  when  he 
looked  up  to  the  stars,  he  thought  that  God 
loved  man;  but  when  he  looked  at  his  sick  child, 


A  Sttidy  of  BrowniJtg' s  Saul        67 

he  could  only  cry  out,  "Why  does  not  God  love 
him  as  I  do!" 

It  seemed  to  David  that  he  surpassed  the 
Creator  in  the  one  particular  of  loving,  that  in 
all  the  rest  he  was  "nothing-perfect,"  God  "all- 
complete.  ' ' 

Here  David  retraces  his  thought  as  if  appalled 
at  the  conclusion  his  logic  has  reached.  In  his 
study  of  the  world,  the  Creator  was  revealed  to 
him  at  every  step  of  the  way,  door  after  door  of 
knowledge  opening  at  his  touch.  God  was  re- 
flected in  the  least  as  in  the  greatest,  immanent 
in  nature  and  in  man.  If,  then,  David  has  seen 
God  reflected  in  the  least  things,  ninety-nine 
doors  opening  to  reveal  him,  shall  the  hundredth 
door  appall  him,  shall  he  doubt  that  in  the  great- 
est of  all  things,  human  love,  God  is  not  even 
more  fully  reflected?  He  will  not  belittle  God's 
love,  as  at  first  thought.  Cannot  the  Giver 
here,  as  elsewhere,  compete  with  the  gift  of  his 
own  hand?  Shall  the  creature  surpass  the 
Creator?  David  yearns  to  do  all,  to  give  all  to 
Saul,  but  he  is  powerless  to  aid  him  further. 
Suppose,  for  a  moment,  that  David  had  created 
Saul,  had  endowed  him  with  the  marvelous  life 
of  which  he  has  just  sung,  and  had  placed  him 
in  such  a  wonderful  world  as  ours;  do  not  his 


68        A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul 

flowing  tears,  the  token  of  his  love,  prove  that 
he  would  not  forsake  such  a  creature  in  ruin,  but 
would  save  and  redeem  and  restore  him,  crown 
him  with  immortality?  Would  he  not  at  the 
right  moment  interfere  with  his  omnipotent 
power  and  rescue  Saul,  bid  him  awake  to  the 
light  of  a  new  and  a  higher  life?  Would  he  not 
by  the  pain  and  the  struggle  of  this  life  of  pro- 
bation prepare  him  to  gain  that  higher  being,  and 
reward  him  with  intensified  bliss?  If  such  is  the 
desire  of  David  the  creature's  soul,  for  its  fellow- 
creature,  a  like  love  and  a  like  desire,  infinite  in 
degree  and  linked  with  infinite  power  to  fulfil, 
must  exist  in  the  heart  of  the  Eternal.  Then 
it  is  clear  that  God  has  found  a  way  of  redemp- 
tion for  man,  and  has  made  possible  to  him 
an  immortality  of  ever  advancing  life,  light, 
and  joy. 

David's  reasoning  is  similar  to  Job's  when, 
turning  his  back  upon  the  false  counsel  of  his 
friends,  he  felt  that  there  must  be  in  God  not 
only  the  wisdom  and  the  power  which  they 
ascribed  to  him,  but  the  love  and  the  sympathy 
which  they  practically  denied  to  him;  and  as 
David  groped  his  way  to  the  light,  so  Job  came 
out  of  the  depths  with  the  triumphant  cry,  "I 
know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth!" 


A  Study  of  Browning  s  Sanl        69 

George  Eliot  puts  the  same  argument  into 
the  mouth  of  the  simple-hearted,  unlettered,  but 
loving  and  helpful  Dolly  Winthrop:  "But  what 
come  to  me  as  clear  as  the  daylight,  it  was  when 
I  was  troubling  over  poor  Bessy  Fawkes,  and  it 
allays  comes  into  my  head  when  I'm  sorry  for 
folks,  and  feel  as  I  can't  do  a  power  to  help  'em, 
not  if  I  was  to  get  up  i'  the  middle  o'  the  night — 
it  comes  into  my  head  as  Them  above  has  got  a 
deal  tenderer  heart  nor  what  I've  got — for  I 
can't  be  anyways  better  nor  Them  as  made  me, 
and  if  anything  looks  hard  to  me,  its  because 
there's  things  I  don't  know  on." 

Section  XVIII.  opens  with  David's  glad  cry 
of  faith,  "I  believe  it!"  What  is  the  antece- 
dent of  "it"?  The  proposition  just  reached  at 
the  close  of  section  XVII.,  the  general  proposi- 
tion of  immortality,  the  immortality  David  has 
pictured.  God  is  the  giver  of  it,  we  the  receiv- 
ers of  it. 

"In  the  first  is  the  last,  in  thy  will  is  my  power  to 
believe." 

In  God's  eternal  existence  is  ours;  in  the  fact 
that  God  has  will  and  power  to  give  rests  our 
reception  of  the  gift.  "The  last,"  that  is, 
David,   is  in   "the  first,"  or  God;   when  God 


yo        A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul 

wills,  David  wills  and  acts.  The  converse  of 
the  statement  is,  that  as  David  wills  and  acts, 
so  God  exists  as  will  and  conduct;  then,  further, 
as  David  loves,  so  God  must  be  love.  We  have 
here  an  expression  of  the  transcendentalism 
which  is  characteristic  of  Browning's  thought. 
The  "it"  of  the  third  line  is,  also,  immortality, 
or  the  power  to  believe  in  immortality. 

The  word  "Sabaoth"  in  line  five  is  a  Hebrew 
term  meaning  "hosts,"  or  "armies,"  and  is 
used  in  the  Bible  as  a  designation  of  the  Almighty, 
an  appellation  of  the  Lord  as  Ruler  over  all. 
We  find  it  preserved  in  Rom.  ix.  29,  and  in 
James  v.  4.  It  unites  the  ideas  of  might  and 
glory,  the  angelic  hosts  being  connected  with  the 
revelation  of  Sinai.  The  worlds,  life,  and  nature 
emanate  from  the  will  of  God,  and  they  stand 
ever  ready  to  execute  that  will.  They  are  his 
Sabaoth,  his  hosts,  his  armies. 

Here  David  contrasts  his  own  weakness  with 
the  omnipotence  of  God.  "Do  I  will  at  my 
best?"  he  says  in  effect,  "How  much  can  I 
accomplish?  So  little  that  the  very  atoms,  the 
least  of  created  things,  would  despise  me."  But 
the  vision  upon  him  fresh  from  God  enables 
him  to  look  even  this  seemingly  hopeless  fact  in 
the  face,  to  despair  not  because  of  this  weak- 


A  Study  of  Brownmg's  Saul        71 

ness.  Man  is  not  exalted  by  what  he  accom- 
plishes, but  by  what,  with  all  the  intensity  of  his 
being,  he  sincerely  wills  or  desires  to  do.  Not 
in  the  flesh,  but  in  the  spirit  of  man  is  the  gain 
or  the  loss,  the  deed  or  the  failure,  the  strength 
or  the  weakness.  Browning  has  made  us  forever 
his  debtors  for  the  inspiration  of  the  line, 

"  'tis   not  what    man  Does  which  exalts  him,  but 
what  man  Would  do!" 

Observe  the  illustration  of  this  principle.  David 
wishes  to  help  Saul,  and  his  desire  is  so  great 
that  he  would  do  all  he  could  to  attain.  He 
would  wrestle  with  the  strength  of  his  might  if 
this  would  lift  the  king  from  sorrow;  he  would 
make  himself  poor  if  thereby  he  might  enrich 
him;  he  would  even  starve  his  own  life  out  if 
this  act  would  build  up  the  king;  but  he  knows 
that  the  greatest  effort,  sacrifice,  or  suffering  he 
could  undergo  may  be  of  no  avail.  Yet  the 
spirit  that  prompts  him  to  do  all,  to  give  all,  the 
spirit  of  full  love  that  leads  to  consecration  of 
labor  for  Saul,  has  rendered  his  service  to  the 
king  as  perfect  as  though  he  had  bestowed  upon 
him  every  gift  his  soul  craved. 

Love  for  fellowman,  in  its  sincerity  and  its 
fulness,  is  perfect  service.     Love  is  the  fulfilling 


72        A  Study  of  Browning  s  Sazil 

of  the  law.  Though  empty-handed,  destitute 
of  all  things,  we  may  yet  offer  to  God  and  to 
man  a  perfect  service,  the  devotion  of  supreme 
love.  No  higher  truth  has  ever  been  revealed 
to  man.  Love,  which  is  the  universal  principle 
of  Browning's  philosophy,  is  grandly  illustrated 
in  "Saul." 

We  are  prepared  for  the  sublime  conclusion 
of  David's  inspired  reasoning.  Would  he  render 
such  service?  Would  he  suffer  to  the  uttermost 
for  love's  sake?  So  will  God.  Love  ineffable, 
glorious,  supreme,  infinite,  shall  be  His  highest 
crown,  wholly  filling  the  universe  with  its  pres- 
ence and  enfolding  every  creature  in  its  embrace. 

"It  is  by  no  breath. 
Turn  of  eye,  wave  of  hand,  that  salvation  joins  issue 
with  death!" 

In  other  words,  it  is  not  an  easy  task  to  save 
Saul,  to  redeem  the  creature.  But  as  God's 
Love  is  seen  to  be  almighty,  so  let  him  prove 
that  his  power  to  make  his  creatures  love  him, 
that  power  which  exists  with  Love  and  for  its 
service,  is  also  almighty.  How  shall  He  best 
prove  such  love  for  the  creature?  David  gives 
answer  for  the  race: 


A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul        73 

"He  who  did  most,  shall  bear  most;  the  strongest 

shall  stand  the  most  weak. 
'Tis  the  weakness  in   strength  that  I  cry  for!  my 

flesh,  that  I  seek 
In  the  Godhead!" 

Let  Him  who  did  most,  the  Creator,  bear  most, 
suffer  most  for  us,  be  the  Christ.  Let  Omnipo- 
tence become  weakness,  let  the  Godhead  take 
upon  itself  the  humanity  of  flesh.  David  seeks 
this  proof  of  the  Creator's  love  toward  us;  he 
seeks  it,  he  finds  it. 

"O  Saul,  it  shall  be 
A  Face  like  my  face  that  receives  thee;  a  Man  like 

to  me, 
Thou  shalt  love  and  be  loved  by,  forever:  a  Hand 

like  this  hand 
Shall  throw  open  the  gates  of  new  life  to  thee!     See 

the  Christ  stand!" 

Thus  does  the  poet  represent  David  with 
inspired  vision,  looking  forward  through  ten  cen- 
turies to  the  advent  of  the  Messiah,  Jesus  Christ, 
the  world's  Redeemer.  Christ  is  the  supreme 
illustration  of  Divine  Love. 

Two  questions  are  suggested  by  section 
XVI IL  Could  we  know  that  God  loves  us  if 
he  had  not  shown  his  love  in  the  Saviour? 
Would  it  be  possible  for  us  to  love  God  if  he 


74        -^  Sttidy  of  Browning' s  Saul 

had  not  revealed  his  nature  to  us  in  Christ? 
The  wisdom  and  the  power  of  God  are  every- 
where manifest  throughout  the  universe.  But 
what  of  his  love?     Does  this  demand  revelation? 

There  are  interpreters  of  this  poem  who 
believe  that  Browning  did  not  limit  David's  vis- 
ion to  the  Christ  of  Jewish  prophecy.  They 
regard  David  as  clairvoyant,  so  to  speak,  view- 
ing the  remotest  future  of  our  race,  beholding 
the  actual  Christ,  the  type  of  perfected  man,  the 
regenerative  principle  of  humanity. 

D.  David's  experience  on  leaving  the  tent. 
XIX. 

The  mission  of  the  sweet  singer  of  Israel  to 
Saul,  is  ended.  He  has  brought  him  to  One 
who  is  mighty  to  save,  to  God  himself,  who 
alone  is  sufficient  for  man's  deepest  need.  He 
may  leave  him  now,  and  return  to  his  sheep. 
But  he  is  not  yet  done  with  the  marvelous. 
His  path  homeward  in  the  night  appeared  to  be 
alive,  crowded  with  the  presence  of  spirits  eager 
to  bear  witness  to  the  truth  of  the  wonderful 
revelation.  Earth  and  sky,  heaven  and  hell,  the 
whole  universe,  seemed  in  travail  together  until 
they  might  be  delivered  of  the  new  truth. 
David,  beset  on  every  side  like  a  messenger, 
must  have  fainted  as  he  pressed  his  way,  had 


A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul        75 

not  God's  hand  upheld  him  and  at  last  sunk  the 
rapture  of  creation  in  quiet.  He  watched  Na- 
ture's emotion  die  out  in  the  gray  of  the  dawn. 
The  hills,  the  forests,  the  wind,  the  wild  beasts 
and  the  birds,  even  the  serpent  that  slid  away 
silent,  were  filled  with  wonder,  dread,  and  awe 
at  the  knowledge  of  the  new  law;  while  the 
flowers,  the  cedars,  and  the  vines  were  stirred 
to  the  heart, 

"And  the  little  brooks  witnessing  murmured,  per- 
sistent and  low, 

With  their  obstinate,  all  but  hushed  voices — 'E'en 
so,  it  is  so!'  " 

And  what  was  this  new  law?  The  Law  of  Love, 
that  Love  which  lifted  up  the  Son  of  Man,  that 
thus  He  might  draw  all  men  unto  Him.  The 
section  is  also  indicative  of  a  cosmic  love  to 
which  Walt  Whitman  refers  in  the  line  in  his 
"Song  of  Myself,"  the  "kelson  of  the  creation 
is  love."  The  entire  stanza  in  the  song  is  as 
follows: 

"Swiftly  arose  and  spread  around  me  the  peace  and 
knowledge  that  pass  all  the  argument  of  the 
earth, 

And  I  know  that  the  hand  of  God  is  the  promise  of 
my  own, 


76        A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul 

And  I  know  that  the  spirit  of  God  is  the  brother  of 

my  own, 
And  that  all  the  men  ever  bom  are  also  my  brothers, 

and  the  women  my  sisters  and  lovers. 
And  that  a  kelson  of  the  creation  is  love, 
And  limitless  are  leaves  stiff  or  drooping  in  the  fields, 
And  brown  ants  in  the  little  wells  beneath  them, 
And  mossy  scabs  of  the  worm  fence,  heap'd  stones, 

elder,  mullein  and  poke-weed." 

In  section  XIX.  we  have  an  illustration  of 
one  of  our  most  advanced  views  of  nature.  It 
reminds  us  of  Wordsworth's  thought  and  of  his 
communion  with  the  world  around  him.  This 
sympathy  between  man  and  nature  has  been  thus 
well  set  forth:  "In  those  supreme  moments 
when  life  touches  its  highest  altitudes,  as  when 
David  leaves  the  presence  of  Saul,  nature  seems 
to  be  on  the  verge  of  swift  transformation  into 
some  spiritual  medium  and  substance,  so  in- 
tensely does  the  soul  project  itself  into  all  visible 
things,  so  alive  and  responsive  are  all  visible 
things  to  the  transcendent  mood  and  revelation 
of  the  hour.  In  the  long  range  of  life,  the 
material  universe  is  seen  to  be  plastic,  and  takes 
on  the  hue  and  form  of  thought,  answering  the 
soul  as  the  body  responds  to  the  mind.  Nature 
is  vitalized  by  a  power  greater  than  itself;  and 


A  Study  of  Browning' s  Saul        77 

through  the  majesty  of  its  elemental  forms — its 
seas  and  mountains  and  continents,  as  well  as 
through  its  finer  and  more  ethereal  aspects — its 
flowers,  its  clouds,  its  sunrises  and  sunsets — 
God  presses  upon  the  spirit  of  man;  and  in  the 
hours  when  that  spirit  aspires  highest  and  acts 
noblest,  this  vast  appearance  of  things  material 
is  touched  and  spiritualized." 

Saul  is  a  type  or  a  picture  of  our  race  with- 
out Christ;  David  is  a  type  of  the  world's  best 
helpers.  What  are  David's  qualifications  for 
service?  He  states  two  of  them  in  section  XIV. 
' '  In  that  act  where  my  soul  was  thy  servant,  thy 
word  was  my  word. ' ' 

I.  His  soul  is  the  servant  of  God. 

II.  God's  word  is  his  word. 

III.  He  will  work  to  the  limit  of  his  ability. 

IV .  He  loves  supremely  and  longs  to  be  a  chan- 

nel for  God's  power. 

Such  are  the  great  qualities  of  ideal  helpers. 
No  man  or  woman  can  possess  these  character- 
istics and  yet  fail  to  be  a  blessing  to  humanity. 
No  man  can  love  supremely,  as  David  did,  and 
fail  to  come  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth,  to  find 
God. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  take  from  the  Bible, 


78         A  Study  of  Browning' s  Satil 

from  history,  and  from  literature,  many  charac- 
ters that  have  been  helpers  or  that  have  been 
helped,  and  observe  the  kind  of  help  given  and 
received,  how  each  gained  power  or  received 
assistance.  Study  in  this  way  the  reclaimed 
people  of  literature,  the  half-saved  people,  the 
people  who  have  been  touched  but  not  lifted. 

We  have  experts  in  physics  and  in  chemistry, 
who,  by  experiment  in  the  laboratory,  are  con- 
stantly forming  new  combinations,  separating 
into  elements,  bestowing  upon  men  valuable  and 
life-giving  material  products,  and  guarding  them 
against  disease  and  death.  There  is  the  science 
of  the  human  mind  and  the  human  soul. 

Our  great  authors,  especially  the  novelist  and 
the  writer  of  such  a  poem  as  "Saul,"  are  in- 
vestigators in  the  hidden  forces  of  being,  experi- 
menters in  character  and  in  action,  and  when 
read  aright,  open  vast  stores  of  spiritual  wealth, 
whence  we  may  gain  experience,  warning,  and 
guidance;  courage,  faith,  and  hope;  joy  and 
inspiration. 


BROWNING'S  CREED,  AS   SUGGESTED 
BY    HIS    POETRY 

I.     God  is  Love,  eternal,  universal. 
II.     Christ  is  the  revelation  of  Love,  divine 
because  He  is  pure  Love. 

III.  Love  is  the  divine  principle  of  human  life, 
giving  rise  to  the  crises  and  tragedies  of  life. 

IV.  Personality  is  Power,  Christ  the  supreme 
personaHty. 

V.     Dogma  is  rejected;  divine  truth  is  gained 
less  through  the  head  than  through  the  heart. 

VI.  Life  is  to  be  judged  from  the  point  of 
view  of  immortality. 

VII.     Spiritual  life  requires  struggle,  progress. 

VIII.     Faith  in  human  impulse,  in  intuition. 

XL     Acceptance    of   all   the    turmoil  of   life; 

activity    involves    opposition;     harmony    is    to    be 

evolved  from  discord,  perfection  from  failure,  good 

from  evil. 

God  as  Love  is  manifest  through  love  (goodness, 
morality,  the  opposite  of  hate) ;  through  knowledge 
(truth,  intelligence,  the  opposite  of  falsehood) ; 
through  beauty  (the  opposite  of  ugliness).  Life  is 
evolution  from  hate,  falsehood,  and  ugliness  to  love, 
knowledge,  beauty. 

"But  in  completed  man  begins  anew 
A  tendency  to  God." 


79 


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